


They Shall Beat Their Swords Into Plowshares

by ObliObla



Series: They Who Fight Monsters [3]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Chloe KNOWS, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 10:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15772197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObliObla/pseuds/ObliObla
Summary: Chloe has well and truly fallen into darkness; can she find her way back into the light?





	They Shall Beat Their Swords Into Plowshares

**Author's Note:**

> You'll need to read the first two parts of this series; otherwise, I don't think this will make much sense.

“You’re beginning to enjoy it, aren’t you?”

“What?” Chloe looked up from a file.

“The punishment. It’s simpler isn’t it, than all these… infernal complications?”

She stood up and dragged Lucifer into a closet; they were _not_ having this conversation surrounded by cops. “I,” Chloe glared at him angrily, “do _not_ enjoy it!”

“You can’t lie to the Devil, darling.”

She threw her hands up, “Fine. It’s… nice to be sure that someone won’t hurt anyone else.”

“Even with the methods we employ?”

“We… I haven’t _done_ anything.”

“You tortured those people; you let them die.”

“But I… you…?”

He laughed harshly, “Oh, the Devil made you do it, did he? Or did it for you? At your command?”

“You said it was ok!”

“I _said_ it was my function. I made no claims as to its morality.”

“We’re protecting people the system failed.”

“Indeed.”

“And that’s not good?”

Lucifer sighed, “Good and evil don’t exist, love, not truly. There is only action and reaction.”

“But… what about Judgement?”

“Good people don’t go to heaven; bad people don’t go to hell. I’ve told you before; it’s guilt, nothing more.”

“But… that’s not fair!”

“Life isn’t fair, darling. Why would death be any better?”

Chloe sat heavily on a box, “So what? It’s all some grand cosmic joke?”

“I don’t find it particularly amusing, but I’m sure Dad is having a right good laugh.”

“We hurt people. We,” she lowered her voice further, “killed people… and it doesn’t matter? Nothing matters, at all?”

“Of course it matters.”

“But…”

“It doesn’t change your ultimate fate—not on its own at least—but where you go after you die isn’t what’s really important.”

“Then, what…?”

“Have I told you the names of some of those in Hell?”

“I…”

“Nat Turner is one; Harvey Milk another. And some you would expect are there, but not for the reason you think. Mengele’s only in Hell over his failure to convince the world of the importance of his ideas.

“There’s that human phrase, what is it? Justice is blind? It doesn’t care about your situation, doesn’t care about your hardships. Doesn’t give a _damn_ about anything. Except guilt.

“Here’s the real secret: we’re all sinners; we’re all saints. We’re all just… fumbling in the grand chaos, even the angels. Especially the angels, in fact; we know all the rules and we _still_ can’t win.

“There is no win condition. There’s just… this.”

Nausea rose in Chloe’s throat; she grabbed a bucket, vomiting heavily into its depths. Lucifer gently stroked her back as she shivered.

She felt like she was drowning, “I don’t… I can’t…”

“Darling?” Her eyes snapped to his. “Why did you try to help people, protect them, before you believed who I was?”

She wiped her mouth, “Because… it was the right thing to do. Because I know what it’s like to have someone taken from me for no reason at all; and… victims deserve resolution.”

Lucifer smiled at her, “Well, isn’t that all still true?”

“But they can never get resolution! Not when everyone receives punishment basically arbitrarily. And… that’s what we’re doing too. Picking people at random to punish.

“We’re no better than your Father.”

She dropped the bucket to the floor, cradling her head in her hands, “Neither option is… sustainable, Lucifer; what am I supposed to do?”

He crouched down beside her, taking her hand, “I don't know, love. Free will’s a right bastard, isn’t it?”

“Free… wait,” she bit her lip, “I think I have an idea.”

*  *  *

Chloe Decker died age 74—a long life in service of others, her obituary read—through the Morningstar Foundation and the John Decker trust, she and her constant partner funded everything from free daycare to law enforcement reform to prisoner rehabilitation. With her seemingly endless drive for justice, and Mr. Morningstar’s unassailable charisma, there wasn’t a politician they couldn’t convince, nor a community organizer they couldn’t assist to help make the world a safer and better place, not only for survivors, but also for many former victimizers seeking redemption.

When asked why she had devoted so much of her life to rectifying the wrongs in the world, she would always reply: “Life isn’t fair, so we have to make it that way.”

Lucifer stayed on Earth long enough to put her affairs in order and promise Trixie he would visit, before he returned, as he always knew he would, in the end, to Hell.

The decades had not improved the muck and grime and ash, but as he entered his palace he froze: his demons, obedient in their military formations, were wiping, dusting and scrubbing at the walls and floors, all commanded by a lone, familiar figure.

“You’re home!” Chloe’s smile lit the room as he approached her, hesitating.

“How are you here? I don’t understand.”

She took his hand, her eyes softening, “I never did stop feeling guilty for the punishments you carried out in my name.”

“I… how did you get out of your cell?”

“Oh,” she grinned, “remember how you told me that none of the doors were locked?”

“But souls are trapped by their own guilt.”

She nodded, seriously, stroking her thumb across his palm, “Remember that… boy, Ethan? The one we brought Judgement upon, so many years ago?”

He nodded, confused.

“Well, I was stuck in his living room as it burned, but this time I controlled the flames; I killed him over and over again, frozen by his screams, until I realized something.”

“What?”

“I felt guilt—I think I will always feel guilt—but regret is useless unless it is in service to redemption. And,” she chuckled, “I couldn’t help anyone in there, so… I went to the door and pushed it open.

“I found myself in one of those hallways that all look the same, but eventually,” she shrugged, “I made it here.”

“And what are you… doing?”

“Well, currently we’re just finishing up some cleaning; I was waiting for you. We’ve got restructuring to do.”

“Have we?” he was staring at her now, incredulous. “Hell has been this way since it came into being.”

“That doesn’t mean it can’t change,” she chided him, fondly. “Don’t you remember? Death isn’t fair, so…” she kissed him gently on the cheek, whispering, “we have to make it that way.”

Lucifer grinned, “Dad might object.”

Chloe returned his smirk, “Oh, I hope so. There’s some things in Heaven that need to change too.”

“Shall we?” she offered her arm.

He took it.

**Author's Note:**

> And thus ends a hopefully self-contained three part series!
> 
> You came with me to some dark places, but I hope, like Chloe, we can find our way back into the light.
> 
> I'm gonna write something fun next, because this was... a lot.


End file.
